Riot Games confirms betting partnerships for League of Legends, Valorant in 2025
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Riot Games confirms betting partnerships for League of Legends, Valorant in 2025
Riot Games, the publisher behind League of Legends and Valorant, has confirmed it will allow partnered esports teams to explore betting partnerships starting in 2025.
Esports teams in League of Legends and the Valorant Champions Tour across the Americas and EMEA will be able to strike deals with Riot-approved sportsbooks, but only under certain conditions.
Riot-owned channels are off limits: Betting brands are prohibited from appearing on Riot-owned channels including its official broadcasts, social media, and team jerseys.
Vetted brands only: Betting platforms must meet local regulatory standards and follow the publisher’s requirements for content and promotion in this category.
Thoughtful rollout: Riot noted it will monitor this initiative closely, leaving room to adjust or expand the sponsorship category based on its impact.
“This is a new sponsorship category for our esports, and we’ll approach it thoughtfully,” Riot Games esports chief Whalen Rozelle said on X. “We’ll learn a lot along the way, and we’ll make changes if at any point this compromises the integrity of the sport or impacts the high-quality experience our fans have today.”
Initial reports suggest that Riot has potentially been weighing up gambling partnerships since May 2023. At the time, the company said it had not made any changes to its policy, but noted it will “continue to evaluate all opportunities that deliver safe, secure, and meaningful experiences that best support the growth of our esports ecosystem globally.”
Sharpr thoughts: League of Legends and Valorant are two crown jewels of the esports industry. Beyond their towering player bases and thriving competitive ecosystems, both titles are popular amongst bettors.
League of Legends and Valorant were the second- and fourth-most bet-on esports in Q3 2024, according to Abios data. Collectively, the two titles drew nearly one-third (31%) of esports betting handle in the third quarter.
Unlike its game publisher peers–including Valve and Activision Blizzard–who both welcome betting partners for its sanctioned esports leagues across Counter-Strike and Call of Duty, Riot Games has yet to step into the gambling category, despite holding a slate of the industry’s most renowned competitive IP.
For teams, this move represents a much-needed revenue boost. Sponsorship dollars in esports have plateaued over the past few years, leaving teams–an already less profitable arm of the business–in a challenging spot.
For operators, partnered League of Legends and Valorant teams represent prime real estate in the esports betting market—particularly for brands aiming to reach a younger, digitally native audience that increasingly bypasses traditional mainstream advertising channels.
Lastly, for Riot Games, it’s a rising tide that lifts all ships. Supporting partnered teams ensures competition, entertainment, and content keep circulating within its ecosystem—strengthening the value of its IP. As publishers increasingly monetize games through long-term player engagement and microtransactions, competitive events and related content have become a core part of the value chain. Betting, as we’ve seen in traditional sports, also tends to drive upticks in viewership and engagement, creating downstream value for all stakeholders–it’s likely Riot has already benefited from its titles popularity amongst bettors, too.
Riot’s approach will look to strike a balance between commercial growth and community sentiment by keeping official channels gamble-free while opening the door for team-level deals. It’s a delicate needle to thread, especially as betting partnerships are still polarizing for some fans, and I’ll be eager to see how this materializes next year.
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